After Hurricane Harvey, a national organization wanted to set up a makeshift shelter at NRG for nearly 800 dogs and cats. They gave owners 90 days to claim their pets. And they waited.

“We kept telling them these are street dogs,” said Tena Lundquist Faust, president of Houston PetSet told the editorial board. “We said nobody is going to come. You could leave them here for 90 years.”

Out of nearly 800 dogs, only 36 were claimed — including one she adopted.

It’s a stark illustration of a problem that plagues neighborhoods across this city but that officials and business groups don’t talk much about.

Violent crime may get more headlines, but residents in some Houston communities say stray animals pose a bigger threat to their daily quality of life. Parents hesitate to let their children play outside, fearing they will fall prey to roaming dogs.

A stray pit bull that wandered onto the grounds of YES Prep Middle School bit five children during recess last year. “This was probably the scariest thing that ever happened to me,” one child told Fox 26 News. “We saw this dog running in the field. At first, it seemed to be friendly. Then it came up behind me and bit me.”

That’s too common an occurrence in Houston, where more than 1,000 bites are investigated by animal control officials each year.

Thirty-seven percent of respondents in a University of Texas School of Public Health survey listed stray cats and dogs as the most frequent neighborhood problem, followed by crime, 26 percent; poor drinking water, 19 percent; and air pollution/traffic, 17 percent.

Reducing the stray population should be a higher priority in a city that touts itself as one of country’s most livable metropolises. What good is a beautiful bike trail if a dangerous pack of dogs has the run of the place? Public officials and corporate leaders haven’t fully grasped the impact of Houston’s dubious new distinction: Dog Bite Capital of America. Shedding that reputation is hard but possible.

Start by considering the recommendations in a Houston Animal Welfare Study conducted by Houston PetSet and the Rice University Center for Civic Leadership, which includes a strategic plan addressing spay and neutering, adoption and rescue, community service and education, cruelty prevention, research, and advocacy.

Stray animals threaten Houston’s quality of life. It’s a crime problem; given how many strays were fight dogs. It’s an economic problem; given how many companies want livable neighborhoods for their employees where children don’t fear playing outside. It’s a problem the whole city needs to work together to solve.